I had had my eye on Co. Pizza since I saw it on an episode of No Reservations and Sarah was keen to check it out too! They don’t take reservations so we headed there relatively early around 7.30pm and we only had to wait about 5 minutes for a table.

To start, we ordered the chef’s selection ($27) of three meats and three cheeses with toast. Fabulous, delicious stinky cheese and wonderful charcuterie with a hint of spice.

These pizzas were, simply put, perfect The crust was thin and crispy with a nice “chew factor” and the toppings were innovative flavours that really worked. I really enjoyed the Fennel and Sausage but think my favourite would have to be the Popeye (and not just because it’s got a great name!). So spinachey and creamy (and probably very good for you!!). These pizzas renewed my enthusiasm for perfecting pizza crust.

And Sarah and I enjoyed a glass of Gruner Veltliner NV Punkt Genau Weinviertal, Austria ($9) instead of dessert. Loved this, though slightly oddly it was served in what I would call a water tumbler.

If I lived near this place in New York, I would be there a few times a week getting takeaway. It’s close to some of the best pizzas I have tasted (those being in Italy).

Company
230 Ninth Ave
NY NY 10001
212 243 1105

After dinner, we headed to Clo Wine Bar, somewhere that has been on our NYC list for a while. It’s situated inside the Columbus Circle (admittedly very upscale) mall which makes for a bit of a odd experience at night when most of the rest of the mall is closed. According to their website, Clo Wine Bar combines sleek, modern design and 21st century technology in presenting a curated collection of 100 unique wines from around the world.The touch screen interactive table enables guests to choose their selections, which are dispensed from custom made machines that pour tastings using a debit style Clo Card.

(The machines are “Enomatics” – which allow wine bottles to remain open for up to 3 weeks by maintaining a layer of inert gas over the wine’s surface in the open bottle.)

It’s definitely very modern, yet due to its size, remains intimate at the same time.

The “touch screen interactive table” was in fact, more like a “no touch screen” as it reacts to the shadow of your hand as opposed to the touch of your finger. It took a while to get used to… You can choose your wine by colour, grape, region/ appellation and price. Each wine has comprehensive tasting notes.

A word of caution here. It’s easy to be overly eager with the “play money” chip card. There are definitely some bargains to be had but there are also some fairly expensive pours so if you are on a budget, it’s perhaps not the place to go. Because once you choose one wine, find it in the glass cabinets (enomatics) and have fun “pouring” it, you will definitely want another. Or ever two more. Know what I mean? 😉

This was my favourite:

Lucky it was my birthday. Not so lucky for Neil’s wallet… (ooops!)

There’s a lot of great information for those of you so inclined to read the tasting notes and they are accessible for those of you who haven’t been to sommelier school.

Would I recommend Clo? Absolutely – it’s a fun (probably once-off) experience that you will enjoy if you like great wines in an interesting setting. You can check out what they have on offer for tastings here and if you know someone who is seriously into wine, this would be a great little NYC field trip!

the spinach pizza looks like it would be my favorite too! and bechamel on a pizza? yum! the wine bar looks like so much fun – and a place one would totally get carried away in – hard to resist such a big selection and such a novel way of ordering/serving!

The wine bar seems like the perfect foodie fieldtrip… and I am sure it was expensive – but as you say, a one time thing. And a blast. The pizza flavour combinations looked deadly – but heavy. I have been grilling all of my pizza doughs for about three years now, and have not found a better pizza dough or crust since I started that. But, we both prefer thin crusts. I make big batches of the dough in my Thermomix, freeze it, and use it as needed.
🙂
Valerie

Hi Mardi – sounds like a great evening. Oh, those pizzas look fabulous. And I am going to steal that idea of serving cheese on parchment for my next party. We’re fond of Gruvy too. We would love that wine bar, next time NYC for sure! Thanks for the info.
LL

The Flambe pizza was by far the best. Or should I say Best. (You know who you are – Mr. Bacon.)

Clo was actually very well done, and I have to say they had a knowledgable sommellier on tap (so tp speak) as well. I started off with a somewhat obscure (over here) Irouleguy AOC – memories of our fortnight in the region a couple summers ago. It really seemed flat to me. I know it’s a more austere wine, but honestly thought there’d be more punch from the tannat/cab sauv combo. (Oh, and it was expensive!) As I mumbled into my glass, not disliking it compeltely but not having the passionate memory rekindled as hoped, Mardi waved the lady in charge over. She ran off to her PC (ironic given the Apple-like feel of the place) and pronounced it had just been opened the day before. Well right-o. Then she came through with thoughts on the wine. All-righty then. Mr. Neil nicely (and politely) put in his place. 😉